


Skinned Knees

by tsunbathing (bluebelle)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Developing Relationship, Drabble Sequence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-28
Updated: 2013-03-28
Packaged: 2017-12-06 18:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/738884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebelle/pseuds/tsunbathing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gilbert has always had a thing for Toris, but he doesn't know how to show it. Toris might just have a thing for him, too.</p>
<p>(human AU, they grow up together and fight and smooch a little. just a few drabbles woven together in a series!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skinned Knees

Something about Toris made Gilbert's face feel hot. He noticed it as soon as they met, on the bus home from school. The other boy was slightly taller than him, and he kept his hair long. His eyes looked older than he did, and the green of them made him prettier than he should have been. Gilbert watched him from a few seats away, his fingers twisting together in his lap.  
  
He thought at first that it was hatred, so he hid in the bushes and threw a pine cone at Toris' head as the other boy walked home. It stuck in his hair a moment before it fell, and Gilbert suppressed a laugh. Toris stood there a moment, nose scrunching in confusion and distaste.  
  
He had expected Toris to cry or something, but instead he turned to look toward Gilbert's hiding place. His face was calm, but there was an obvious annoyance in his eyes. He couldn't see exactly where his attacker was, Gilbert could tell. He wasn't expecting Toris to throw the cone back. He didn't get the chance to duck, and it hit him right in the face. (Toris had guessed his position well, after all.)  
  
When he went to school the next day, his nose had a bit of a bruise on it. Toris had a better arm and better aim than he would have thought. The other boy noticed the bruise and ignored him all through the morning.

Gilbert was disappointed, but he didn't quite understand why. He went out of his way trying to regain Toris' attention. He made offhand remarks that could have been aimed at anyone, hoping Toris would respond. When that didn't work, he stuck close to Toris at recess.  
  
The other boy took to the swings, and Gilbert sat down next to him. Toris looked a little confused, his eyebrows drawing up toward the center. Gilbert hadn't seen that expression on him before; it was cute. His cheeks heated up again and he pushed Toris off the swing on impulse.  
  
Toris didn't seem to like that, although Gilbert shouldn't have been surprised. What did surprise him was Toris tackling him off his own swing. The boy was much stronger than he looked, Gilbert thought as they both rolled to the side. They stayed like that a moment, Toris on top of him looking down and Gilbert underneath looking up. Toris was mad this time, he could see. His mouth had tugged into a frown, and his hands were balled into fists on either side of Gilbert's shoulders. "What is your problem?" he started to ask, but Gilbert jammed his knee up into his ribs and sent him rolling away, the air knocked out of his lungs. He was just sitting up again when Toris punched him in the face and he was thrown back down.  
  
By the time the teacher pulled them apart, Gilbert was sporting an eye that was threatening to go black. Toris had several scratches down one arm, and they were both a dirty, their clothes rumpled. The teacher warned them that she would have to call their parents.

Toris sent him a glare from across the table, and he recognized _that_ look as hatred.  
___  
  
Nothing much had changed between them by the time they were thirteen, although they had stopped fighting so much. Sometimes their squabbles still devolved into punches and kicks, but not as often as when they were younger. Gilbert did still tease Toris about little things. The other boy always had his nose in a book, and Gilbert was quick to mock him for it. Toris still had the same ridiculous hairstyle from when they were kids, too, but Gilbert didn't want to admit it suited him.  
  
Somehow things were less hostile between them now, and they tolerated each other for the most part. Well, Toris tolerated him. The feelings that had been developing a few years ago had only intensified for Gilbert. Sometimes he still had an urge to do something he shouldn't, because he wasn't sure how else to draw Toris' eye. He wasn't handsome, he knew. Nor was he especially smart, but he could be kind of funny sometimes. Maybe Toris didn't have a sense of humor, or more likely he just didn't notice when Gil made jokes. Most of them were made with the hope that a certain pair of green eyes would land on him, and a certain pair of lips (and they were nice lips, he was starting to realize) would turn up in a smile. They never did.  
  
During one such instance, just after classes had ended for the day, he said a little too much. He really hadn't been trying to awaken Toris' temper, but somehow they had ended up outside again, fighting. There wasn't much of a crowd this time, but that didn't matter much to either of them. Someone had come to pull them apart, as always, and sent them straight to detention. Gilbert's ribs felt bruised from an elbow to the stomach Toris had gotten in before he could dodge.  
  
All through detention, Toris shot him glares across the room. The other boy, of course, was a model student (except for his sometime-squabbles with Gilbert). Even now, he was working on homework like they were supposed to while they sat here. Toris almost never got in trouble, and when he did it was usually Gilbert's fault.  
  
Gilbert should have felt guilty for that, but something about the situation made him proud. He was the only person who could get Toris to show that side of himself. He could remember so clearly the expressions flashing across Toris' face as they fought. He was usually so restrained. Some people might even call it dignified, but in Gilbert's opinion it was just fake. Of course he liked Toris as he was when he was laughing or talking, but he also liked the other parts. He liked the anger, and the suspicion, and he especially liked the little almost-smirk that twitched at the corner of his mouth before he did something clever. That was the expression, more than anything else, that made his insides feel wobbly.  
  
They met again by accident in the hallway after detention. Toris gave him another disapproving look but said nothing. Gilbert was used to the silent treatment from him by now, but something about it made him bristle this time. "Hey, Laurinaitis, look at me when I'm talking to you," he found himself saying. Which was silly, because he hadn't been talking. Toris looked like he was about to say just that, but Gilbert surprised himself by cutting him off with a kiss.  
  
Toris' lips were warm, and Gilbert's face heated up. He almost didn't dare touch the other boy, but he did rest one hand on Toris' shoulder to reach him better. (Toris had always been, and still was, just slightly taller. It was another thing that irked him, but now that they were close it felt surprisingly nice.) The warmth spread to his belly and he waited for Toris to hit him again, but he didn't. Instead Toris pressed back just slightly before pulling away, his pretty green eyes wide in his face and his cheeks flushed.  
  
Gilbert left school as fast as he could without running.  
___  
  
They mostly ignored each other for several years. Well, again, Toris ignored him. Gilbert didn't seem to be able to ignore the other boy if he tried, and it just got worse as the years went on. Toris hit a growth spurt and was that much more attractive (and tall, damn him) for it. Toris joined the basketball team, and suddenly he had muscular arms when they used to be scrawny, and a surprisingly well-muscled body hiding underneath his boring shirts and slacks. Gilbert had caught a glimpse once during gym class, and now he wished he hadn't. The picture came back to his mind at terribly inconvenient times, and so did the curl of lust that always accompanied it.  
  
He found himself staring at Toris whenever he could, but the other boy never payed him the same amount of attention. It was strange, because they had never been more friendly toward each other. They said hello in the halls more often than they had, and sometimes when Toris was in a good mood he even started small conversations. They weren't friends, and Gilbert doubted they ever would be. But Toris' smile and the occasional "good morning" made him all the more desperate. It was pathetic, he thought, but he kept going back for more. Just one more moment of pointless small talk. Just one more glance. Sometimes he even purposely put himself where Toris would be in the hope of some kind of acknowledgement. If Toris noticed that Gilbert seemed to have memorized his class schedule, he didn't say anything.  
  
At other times, he found himself in Toris' path with no planning involved at all. It was these times when Toris was more likely to say something, and it was these times that sent his pulse racing. It was like this that they met at a party one night. Gilbert was shocked to see Toris there, but it probably shouldn't have been so surprising. He wasn't antisocial, but he did seem too straight-laced for that type of gathering. Yet there he was, looking perfectly at home in a small group of people, talking and laughing with the rest. Their eyes met, and suddenly Toris was walking straight toward him.  
  
Gilbert glanced behind him. Surely there was someone back there Toris was going for instead, maybe that annoying blond friend of his. But Gilbert's back was up against the wall and suddenly Toris was right there next to him. He didn't dare say anything yet; surely he would mess this up.  
  
"You've been watching me," was the first thing out of Toris' mouth, and Gilbert cursed himself mentally. Of course he would have noticed that, he wasn't an idiot. He was standing just a little too close, and his hair was back so Gilbert could see his neck. It looked pale and inviting in that light. He wanted to lick that skin, to bite it and mark it and watch Toris squirm. He cursed himself for that thought, too, and looked away too late when he realized he was staring. Toris was watching him, and he felt as if his thoughts had been written across his face.  
  
For some reason Toris didn't speak, and they just looked at each other. Then someone leaned in--in a flutter of nerves and surprise Gilbert almost thought it had been Toris who closed that distance, but he couldn't be sure--and their lips met. If he had expected anything about the night, it hadn't been this. Not Toris' hot breath against his mouth and their chests pressed close together, not Toris' hand roaming to his ass and the embarrassing sound that brought out of him. He was glad they were in a dark corner, or someone might see the deep flush creeping up into his neck. Toris, he noticed with the hint of a smirk, looked just as disheveled. His hair was a mess, and somehow Gilbert's hand had found its way up his shirt. His cheeks were stained deep red, but he looked pleased. Gilbert pushed him up against the wall again and kissed him roughly, enjoying the way Toris' breath hitched as their hips ground together.  
  
Somehow they made their way to a spare bedroom (and again Gilbert had no memory of how they got there, but he wasn't complaining). They didn't let go of each other for what seemed like ages, and by the time he went home he had discovered just how thoroughly Toris didn't hate him.  
  
(When Toris came into class on Monday, Gilbert noticed with a badly-suppressed grin, he couldn't quite hide a purple mark near his ear.)


End file.
